What games have good dynamic Day/Night Cycles?

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sculelos

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I know the Bethesda games are pretty much known for their impressive Sky and motion in their games where many other games like Stalker or Half-Life have static skies but my question is this, "What good games are their out there that have good dynamic Skies and Weather?"
 
mavrocket said:
Just Cause 2 has some decent effects as well.
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Ah yea, that was one of the most impressive games graphically I've seen lately... too bad the game-play was too unrealistic for my taste.

daemonmf said:
STALKER
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I know Stalker changed from day to night but it only had transitions from one static sky to the next, nothing is actually moving like the Sun, moon, clouds ect... except for a few particle effects that are acting as clouds but most clouds are static background items that never change from the Skyscapes.
 
Skyrim and Farcry 3 are probably the best of the last couple years, at least the games that I have played.
 
PlanetSide 2 I think has a good day and night cycle. Nothing is static and its just jaw dropping I think. Here is a video showing it.
 
xBanzai89 said:
PlanetSide 2 I think has a good day and night cycle. Nothing is static and its just jaw dropping I think. Here is a video showing it.
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Hop in a MAX suit, get in a galaxy transport headed for any base owned by Vanu and currently under attack, turn on AC/DC, airdrop in to recreate your own version of opening scene from Ironman 2.
Bonus points if you land, immediately shoot someone in head, then hear the lyric "You've been Thunderstruck!" while the music is still playing.
 
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We need a game to have legitimate weather cycles in addition to the day/night. Flash floods and snow accumulation would be glorious.

That video of PS2's cycle is really nice
 
Business6 said:
We need a game to have legitimate weather cycles in addition to the day/night. Flash floods and snow accumulation would be glorious.
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Yea i remember before Skyrim came out they were talking up how they'd have real weather cycles and snow accumulation.
 
chockomonkey said:
Yea i remember before Skyrim came out they were talking up how they'd have real weather cycles and snow accumulation.
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It does.

The snow accumulation is just shaders, but when it snows the area turns white. Add a couple of mods and you get snow on your avatar.

The weather systems are better with some mods though.
 
zacrobmer said:
It does.

The snow accumulation is just shaders, but when it snows the area turns white. Add a couple of mods and you get snow on your avatar.

The weather systems are better with some mods though.
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Weird, i'd never noticed any snow accumulation. Regardless, skyrim's atmosphere is better than most other games.
 
LeviathanZERO said:
Don't you mean Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest?
Another vote for Planetside 2. It's done extremely well, and looks amazing on my rig.
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Castlevania 2 is just confusing and it constantly misguides you. Poor translation or what, no idea but it was typical Nintendo Power game (or FAQ nowadays), impossible to beat other than you just happen to do what you should do just by blind luck. Castlevania 3 is fucking brutal! I have not finished it yet myself.
 
Project Cars has great weather and day / night transitions. They broke the AA this week so I can't really post a video of it. Well I can but it wouldn't look right.
 
EverQuest has a great day/night cycle back in the day. You could watch the moon/sun slowly track across the sky.

It was useful when playing as a human character (without infravision) in the early days, as it helped you judge how much longer you could travel on foot until you had to get shelter for the night as you couldn't see where you were going in the dark.
 
Pyrocles said:
EverQuest has a great day/night cycle back in the day. You could watch the moon/sun slowly track across the sky.

It was useful when playing as a human character (without infravision) in the early days, as it helped you judge how much longer you could travel on foot until you had to get shelter for the night as you couldn't see where you were going in the dark.
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MMO developers need to look back at UO and Everquest and build another good game.
 
Ones that actively affect game experience as well, mostly... in a positive way?

Terraria, DayZ (Arma II mod)
 
Red Dead Redemption had some of the better day/night cycles I can remember. But maybe it was a combination of good effects and setting.
 
xBanzai89 said:
PlanetSide 2 I think has a good day and night cycle. Nothing is static and its just jaw dropping I think. Here is a video showing it.
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That's pretty sweet.

Two things which often bug me in games, usually RPGs, are day/night cycles that are too short, and nights that aren't dark enough. In GW2 for example you can barely even tell the difference unless you check the sky to see whether or not there are stars. And while Skyrim's are much prettier, they're way too short (not including mods, of course). Same for FC3, although FC2 got it about right IMO.
 
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